


All My Loving (I Will Send to You)

by featherytongue



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 14:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16725549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/featherytongue/pseuds/featherytongue
Summary: Chanyeol's life is a repeat of grey colours and a colossal amount of paperwork.





	All My Loving (I Will Send to You)

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for an ancient Chanhun fest called, halcyonboys on LJ. It took me forever to post this  
> Thanks to M who helped me write and edit this. I'm always thankful for you.

If Park Chanyeol were to use colours to describe his life, he would have to pick the colour grey. It's the colour of the pavement he stares at on the way to work, the colour of the briefcase he carries every morning, the colour of the cup of coffee he buys from the coffee shop a few blocks away from his office building, the colour of his office building, the colour of the table in his 5 foot square cubicle. 

He walks into his office, with the coffee in his right hand and his briefcase in other, passing by the motivational poster that silently screams at him, "We can't spell success without 'U'!" before sitting in his cubicle. His regular work day consists of typing, checking documents and validating them, and on rare occasions, it includes some mingling with his colleagues ("How was your weekend?" "Okay I guess.")

But most of the time, even though his body is there, finishing mountains of paperwork and chasing after deadlines, his soul is elsewhere. On some days, it's high up in the clouds, enjoying what he thinks it would feel like flying through clouds On other days, he's in space, watching stars explode into supernovas, and witnessing light get sucked into black holes.

But today, Chanyeol's reverie is disturbed by a hand on his shoulder shaking him lightly and beckoning him to stay rooted in reality.

"Hey, Park, look out the window," says the owner of the hand.

So Chanyeol does exactly that, and the view outside his window is quite different from the office building he's used to seeing; the building is obscured by a huge colourful balloon. Chanyeol frowns in confusion.

"I think there's a parade going down main street," says another colleague, whose face reminds Chanyeol of a cat.

"Park, open the window. I think I hear a marching band," suggests the one who plucked Chanyeol out of his daydreams.

The beating of a drum line and the tooting of trumpets greet Chanyeol's ears as soon as he opens the window. But instead of marvelling at the parade with his animated colleagues, Chanyeol stares at a familiar mop of black hair.

This man, from the fifth floor of the building across the main street, has been a subject of Chanyeol's intrigue for a while now. Chanyeol has never failed to notice how fast his heart beats whenever he sees the other man at his cubicle, even just a glimpse of his silhouette against the tinted windows. But that was all that it was, an admiration from afar. Chanyeol has never been able to attract the attention of this almost otherwordly being.

Yet apparently today is Chanyeol's lucky day. For a moment, their eyes meet, and Chanyeol thinks his heart must be thumping loud enough for the guy to hear. When the guy flashes Chanyeol a smile, Chanyeol wonders when he swallowed a flutter of butterflies for a meal. But before Chanyeol can smile back, a gust of wind blows confetti into his face, making him look like an idiot in front of the office guy across the street. By the time he gets the confetti out of his eyes, the guy by the window is already gone. Chanyeol gazes at the confetti —falling to the ground like leaves during autumn — and sighs as he turns away from the window to return to his paperwork.

That's when he gets struck by an idea.

As most of his colleagues return to their cubicles, Chanyeol reaches out to grab a sheet of paper from the neat stack on his desk, his long limbs almost toppling his cup of unfinished coffee, and he starts to fold a paper plane. For a moment, he is transported back to middle school, where the boys in his class used paper planes to get the attention of the girls while he preferred to serenade them with short songs made on the spot. When he straightens up to fly his paper plane, he notices the window on the fifth floor is closed. There is certainly no way for the plane to reach its intended destination. He slumps back into his seat, trying to come up with another way to gain the attention of the guy on the fifth floor, but he can think of none.

And so Chanyeol continues with his work. He glances at the window every once in a while to see if he could send the paper plane. Unfortunately for Chanyeol (at least he thinks so. He's not too sure if he has enough courage to actually send it), the window stays shut for the rest of the day. Chanyeol goes home replaying the confetti scene over and over again, pondering when the last time his heart had ever thumped that hard was, but he can't recall how long it has been since the last time he got excited.

☁

The next day comes around, and Chanyeol's colleagues follow his progress into the office with their eyes. There's a little spring in his step from his excitement to send the paper plane that's been sitting on his desk since yesterday. Chanyeol sits down to fiddle with the plane, fixing its tip and trying to make it more defined before opening the window. He's pleasantly surprised by the fact that it's a blustery day; perfect for flying paper planes across main street.

Chanyeol stands by the window, waiting for the man to pass by the window and take a seat in his cubicle. Chanyeol's heart skips a beat when the silhouette of the man appears behind the tinted window, and it skips another when the man slides his own window open (if his heart were a drummer, Chanyeol would have probably fired the guy).

Chanyeol takes a deep breath while smoothing out the creaseless wings of the paper plane for the last time. He turns around to face the opposite building again to see the man talking to one of his colleagues as he gets his laptop out of his bag. Chanyeol wipes his sweaty palms on his pants to get ready to fly a paper plane for the first time. He takes another deep breath, only to turn around and put the plane back on his table, all the excitement gone from his body, leaving him with frazzled nerves. Chanyeol collapses onto his seat when he notices that his colleague with the pretty fingers observing him from his cubicle.

"You know, you should just send the plane to whoever you're planning to give it to," he says coolly, not even trying to pretend that he was not spying on Chanyeol.

"Yeah, you should just do it, man", says another colleague, head popping up over one of Chanyeol's cubicle walls. Chanyeol almost falls off his seat, surprised by his colleagues' words of support.

He collects their encouragements and turns them into bravery to send the paper plane to the open window on the fifth floor. He stands by the window again, with the paper plane in his hands, and prays before finally sending the plane to the man. Chanyeol hears the sounds of chairs being pushed back and finds his colleagues by his side. Like Chanyeol, they lean out the window to see if the plane reaches the other building.

For the first few seconds, the plane glides smoothly, looking like it would reach its destination without much difficulty. Before it could reach the open window on the fifth floor, it takes a dive, causing all three men to groan in perfect harmony.

"Well, we could always try again," says the cat-like one while reaching for the stack of papers on Chanyeol's table. This makes Chanyeol smile, for it's probably the longest conversation (of sorts) he has ever had with his colleagues.

✈

While the cat-like one folds another paper plane, Chanyeol mentally slaps himself for being such a terrible co-worker. They seem to know his name, while he only knows them by face and position in the company. Chanyeol clears his throat, gaining the attention of his two colleagues who were competing to see who could fold a paper plane faster.

"Can you guys, um, tell me your names?" he asks.

"You've worked with us for like a year but you don't know our names?" says the cat-like one. Chanyeol just nods slowly. The other coworker laughs and gives Chanyeol a rectangular smile that showcases his perfect teeth.

"My name is Byun Baekhyun. And it's okay if you don't know our names. I only know your surname is Park, and it's because of that one time the boss called you to his office," he says, offering his hand to Chanyeol. Chanyeol shakes it and gives Baekhyun a small smile before turning to the other one.

"I'm Kim Jongdae, don't worry about sending the paper plane to that guy in the building across the street. You've got a pair of pretty kick-ass paper plane folding guys helping you," he says, handing Chanyeol another paper plane. Chanyeol thanks Jongdae and stands up to fly the new plane, which unfortunately takes a dive a few seconds after it goes airborne. Despite that, Chanyeol smiles a little bit.

☁

The next day, Chanyeol is offered to select one model to fly from an array of paper planes to fly to his Runway Model (a nickname coined by his two colleagues, "Because he's the plane's destination, and he looks like a model," "Not to mention, he's pretty much black and white, the colour of most runways,"). Without wasting any time, Chanyeol chooses a paper plane similar to the one he used the day before, but a bit more slender, which probably means it could fly better.

Fuelled by the encouraging nods from his two new friends, Chanyeol stands at his window to fly yet another plane. He takes a deep breath before sending it out.

The paper plane flies along main street, instead of across it, and it grabs the attention of the man who is supposed to be getting it. Chanyeol sees the Runway Model pointing at the paper plane to his colleague before pressing his face against the window to observe where the paper plane was flying too, curiosity evident on his face. When the paper plane takes a dive and disappears, the Model's face morphs into a frown, but he seems to have noticed that Chanyeol is observing him and looks up to give Chanyeol a pout. Chanyeol gives him a little shrug, causing the man to pout even more, making Chanyeol laugh.

The Model is delighted to see him laugh and joins him laughing. Chanyeol would give anything to hear the man's laugh. Would it sound like the most beautiful music Chanyeol has ever heard? Or would he hear Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture' in the background when he laughed? Chanyeol lets out sigh when he realises he had zoned out too long to notice that the Model went back to his work.

✈

The following day, Chanyeol chooses another model (he insists on only flying one paper plane a day, "To reduce my daily disappointments"), and takes his position by his open window. He breathes in and sends out the paper plane. Jongdae congratulates Chanyeol for a perfect flight (and gloats to Baekhyun because he folded the paper plane), because the plane heads straight to Runway Model's window  —until it collides with a pigeon flying by. The bird is disoriented and almost crashes into the wall, flapping it's wings like mad. The bird is unharmed, unlike the paper plane that is crumpled by the crash and many feet of pedestrians and Jongdae's pride that has been hurt by the failure of the flight.

☁

The next attempt breaks Chanyeol's heart more than the previous ones. After spending a weekend with Baekhyun and Jongdae, and trying out different models of paper planes, they finally decide on a model to send. Chanyeol has reached the point where he no longer needs a moment to muster courage to fly the paper plane, so he takes one final look at it before sending it — along with his heart — to the man who owns it. The plane flies across main street, through Runway Model’s window, and lands on his chair.

Chanyeol heaves a sigh of relief and his friends cheer (although it's mostly just Baekhyun bragging about his paper plane folding ability). Jongdae quickly reminds Chanyeol of his Runway Model, because said man has discovered the paper plane.  Baekhyun hurries to the window while Jongdae yells "THIS IS IT, DUDE!" in Chanyeol’s face. Runway Model looks out the window to search for the sender of the plane, making Chanyeol feel like puking. What happens after he finds out who the sender is? Runway Model looks everywhere but at the three people observing him from across the street.

Failing to find the sender, Runway Model opts to unfold the paper plane, which is nothing more than a   blank A4 paper. He purses his lips, and crumples the plane up before tossing it into dust bin, along with Chanyeol's heart.

✈

After Runway Model throws away the paper plane, Chanyeol drowns himself with work, trying to ignore the ache in his heart. Despite that, it becomes worse, and he takes a break by hitting his head on his desk while chanting "Stupid, stupid, stupid..." under his breath. Jongdae and Baekhyun decide that the thumping sound is annoying, so they try to cheer Chanyeol up. 

Baekhyun knocks on Chanyeol's desk. That gets Chanyeol to stop hitting his head to look up at Baekhyun.

"There's no one home except for misery," Chanyeol says before resuming his head banging, making Baekhyun chuckle.

"Hey, Park, doing that won't make him notice you," Baekhyun replies. Chanyeol just responds with a groan.

"I wonder why he threw it away..." Baekhyun ponders, tapping his finger on his lip.

"Maybe he threw it away because there was nothing on it?" Jongdae chimes in.

A light bulb comes to life above Baekhyun's head. "You should send him little love notes!" Baekhyun yells, making everyone in the office look up in his direction.

"Love notes?" Chanyeol asks, slowly raising his head again. Baekhyun nods and throws a pen to Chanyeol, telling him to get his creative juices flowing. After a few minutes of silence other than the sound of pen on paper, Baekhyun decides to check up on the lanky guy.

"Uh, Chanyeol?" Baekhyun pauses, when he sees squiggles and lines on the paper, instead of pick-up lines.

"Yeah?" Chanyeol answers slowly.

"Those aren't love notes..." Baekhyun says, his voice getting softer with every word.  Jongdae pops up over Chanyeol's cubicle wall to see what Baekhyun meant. When he sees the lines and squiggles for himself, he laughs his head off, disrupting the floor's peace.

"We meant love letters, Chanyeol, not musical notes!" Jongdae says between his laughter. Chanyeol begins to hit his head against his desk once again, the thumps getting a little too loud this time. "I thought you meant musical notes," he says in between thumps.

Jongdae comes over to stop Chanyeol while Baekhyun picks up the sheet to scrutinise it. "I didn't know you could compose stuff, Park," he says before humming the short melody.

Chanyeol raises his head again, his forehead a little red from all the thumping. "I didn't know you could read music, so I guess that's fair.” He sighs before taking a good look at his friends, trying to decide whether Baekhyun and Jongdae are worthy of the information he keeps to himself.

“I just would’ve never guessed you were a music person, Park.” Baekhyun shrugs.

Chanyeol twiddles his thumbs as he weighs the pros and cons and thinks that there is no harm in letting people know a bit more about himself. “Oh, er, I used to compose as living, but that didn't pay the bills or keep me from starving.” Chanyeol laughs, hoping his friends wouldn’t think it sounds as forced as it does to his own ears. “So here I am, stuck on the sixth floor, doing boring paperwork every single day until I retire, probably. Composing was my life… Well, at least it used to be."

 

Baekhyun's and Jongdae's mouths form an 'O'.

"Then, I think maybe the musical notes are a good idea," Jongdae says as he gives Chanyeol a pat on the back. Chanyeol flashes them a smile before returning to his masterpiece.

☁

As soon as he finishes the short serenade, Chanyeol hands the paper to Baekhyun for him to fold it ("YES!" the shorter one fist pumps to celebrate the fact that Chanyeol chose him to fold the paper plane before sticking out his tongue to a pouty Jongdae). Baekhyun folds a paper plane with a smug look on his face, and hands Chanyeol what he claims to be "the most perfect paper plane to ever exist!"

“Remind me to ask him to teach me how to fold these planes,” Chanyeol whispers to Jongdae. Chanyeol stands up and looks out the window to see Runway Model pushing his glasses up before leaving his seat to do something.

"What are you waiting for, Park?" Baekhyun asks, appearing next to the lanky day-dreamer to poke the latter when he takes too long to send the paper plane. The latter shakes his head and sends the paper plane off to the Runway Model’s cubicle on the fifth floor. Chanyeol and his colleagues wait as the paper plane flies and ends up on Model’s chair, a few seconds before he returns to his seat. Runway Model eyes the plane  for a moment before picking it up. When he unfolds it, instead of regular letter and words, symbols reveal themselves to him. The Model scratches his head, perplexed by the short little sheet music Chanyeol composed. Meanwhile, Park Chanyeol continues hitting his head on his table. He realises that some people can't read musical notes, and that Runway Model might just be one of those people.

✈

Sehun walks to his best friend with a sheet of creased paper with something written on it.

"Jongin," Sehun tugs at his best friend's sleeve, earning himself a hum of acknowledgement from the intern.

"What is it?" Jongin replies without looking up from his laptop. From the looks of it, Jongin has some errors in his codes to fix that are more important than whatever it is that Sehun came to bother him about.

"What do you think this means?" Sehun shows Jongin the unfolded paper plane.

"That thing," Jongin says, turning his chair around to point at a symbol that reminds Sehun of a snail, "Looks like a fancy ampersand,"

"I don't think that's an ampersand," Sehun comments, Jongin only shrugs in response.

"I don't know everything in this world man," he swivels his chair to continue focusing on his codes.

Sehun hums in agreement but decides that he can't ignore the paper plane, not when it has some foreign language on it. He starts back towards his cubicle when he hears soft twangs coming from one of the nearby cubicles, and decides to take a detour. He walks down a little further to one of his seniors who is busy fiddling with the tuning pegs on an instrument that looks like a tiny guitar.

"Yixing-hyung," Sehun calls out as he knocks on his hyung's cubicle wall.

The man looks up and flashes Sehun a smile that showcases the dimples on his cheeks.

"Did you need any help, Sehun?" the man asks as he puts his tiny guitar on his table.

"I want to ask you two things, hyung"

"Shoot."

"Number one: what's that tiny guitar thing called again?"

"A ukulele." Yixing chuckles. "Haven't you asked this before?"

"I forget sometimes," Sehun replies, scratching the back of his head.

"What's the other thing you wanted to ask me?" Yixing raises his eyebrow.

Sehun holds up the creased paper to Yixing, "Hyung, do you know what these are?"

"Those," Yixing says as he gestures to the writing on the paper plane, "are musical notes."

"Can you read them, hyung?" Sehun asks.

"Yeah, do you want me to teach you?"

Sehun nods, perhaps a bit too eagerly, because Yixing chuckles.

“Can we start tomorrow? I’ve got nothing to do,” Sehun begs. Yixing tells the excited intern that he'll bring his portable keyboard to work tomorrow, since he has nothing to do either. "I can also teach you how to play the keyboard," Yixing offers.

Sehun swears he can feel his pupils shape-shifting into stars at the thought of being able to play music.

After all, the only music in Sehun's life has always the rhythmic tapping of keyboards.

☁

Sehun walks into the office the next day with a grin on his face, and greets all his seniors and his fellow interns with chipper hellos. His smile grows a little when he passes Yixing's cubicle to see a small keyboard on his table. Sehun’s smile turns into a laugh when a frowning Jongin walks into the office with several cups of coffee in his hands.

"Did you have fun at the coffee shop today, Jongin?" Sehun jests, earning a glare from intern.

"Shut up," Jongin mouths at his best friend as he hands out the coffee cups to their seniors. When Jongin  gets closer to Sehun’s cubicle, Sehun sticks out his tongue, and Jongin retaliates with another glare as he hands the last cup of coffee to Sehun.

Sehun chuckles at his friend. "I love it when it's not my turn to go on a coffee run,” Sehun says as he takes a sip from his cup.

“I hope you choke on your coffee.”

Sehun opens his window before making his way to Yixing's cubicle to remind him about the music lessons. He finds the musician plugging the portable keyboard to his laptop. Yixing turns around, surprised by Sehun's presence.

"Oh, I was just about to call you over so we can start on some basic music knowledge," Yixing says as he produces a piece of paper with 5 lines drawn on it, much like the ones on the paper plane yesterday.

"Bring a chair over, Sehun-ah," Yixing instructs him. Sehun pulls up a chair and sits next to Yixing.

"Let's start with the basics," Yixing says, taking a pencil out from a container filled with stationery.

"First off, this is a staff," Yixing explains. "This helps you figure out what notes you need to play." Sehun only nods, while Yixing draws the snail-shaped symbol at the start of the staff.

"This is a treble clef. There are several more clefs that exists, but I think you only need to know this one."

"Jongin thinks it's a fancy ampersand," Sehun comments. Yixing bursts out laughing.

"So what is it for?" Sehun inquires when Yixing finally stops laughing.

"It tells you what note you're playing and which pitch it's in," Yixing explains. Sehun makes a mental note to visit Jongin and tell him what the fancy ampersand actually is.

"Are you familiar with do re mis?" Yixing asks Sehun, prompting the intern to burst into the song from The Sound of Music. Yixing laughs as he draws some filled in ds and explains what they are to Sehun.

✈

After an hour, Yixing smiles proudly at Sehun who is a fast learner and has managed to grasp the basics of musical theory easily and decides to take five.

Sehun walks back to his table to grab his coffee. When he returns to Yixing's cubicle, Sehun finds Yixing trying to play the paper plane song. From the snippet he hears, Sehun thinks that if love had a sound, it would be like this, soft and sweet. The notes makes him feel like he's floating, ready to take on the skies. They soothe him, and Sehun realises, then: that's what love does. He sits by Yixing in silence, not wanting to disturb the older man's focus.

Upon seeing Yixing’s brow furrow at the last note, Sehun asks, "What's wrong, hyung?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that maybe this was an incomplete song. Look at the last bar." Yixing points at the last bit of the song. "There's supposed to be a double bar line here, to signify the end of the song. But, as you can see, it’s just a single line. Just the end of the measure.”

"Does that mean I'll get more paper planes?" Sehun thinks out loud. Yixing mumbles a "maybe" and pushes the portable keyboard to Sehun. He presses a key and asks Sehun if he knows what note it is.

"Do?" Sehun replies.

"C," Yixing corrects.

"Oh, oops," Yixing shakes his head and tells Sehun it's okay. He then proceeds to ask Sehun what the next note is. When Sehun is familiar with the black and white keys, Yixing teaches Sehun how to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” before finally letting Sehun try out the paper plane song.

Sehun starts playing the song slowly, still trying to get used to counting all the beats in his head. He stumbles on a few notes because he still can't control the way his fingers move when he presses the keys. Despite the song coming out slower than it's supposed to be, Sehun is able to play it, and that, Yixing says, is the important thing. The lesson ends there but Sehun feels like he's floating on cloud nine.

☁

Sehun ascends to another level of clouds when he returns to his cubicle after lunch break to see a paper plane flying into his cubicle and onto his chair. The plane doesn't look as carefully folded as the previous one but the music sheet is still same. The only difference is this one seems to have been written in haste. The ds are not as solid as those in the first one, as if the sender was impatient to give this to Sehun. Sehun peers outside his window to search for the sender, only to find closed windows as far as the eye can see. He sighs and starts unfolding the second paper plane.

Sehun returns to Yixing's cubicle to find the musician on his keyboard, playing a song with so much emotion that his body sways back and forth. Sehun envies the connection Yixing has with music. It's something that Sehun can never have.

Yixing stops as if he just remembered something important.

"Hey, Sehun," Yixing calls the young intern.

"What is it, hyung?" Sehun replies.

"Do me a favour and give this package to the office across the street," Yixing says, taking a package off his desk and handing it to Sehun. "It must have been dropped off here by mistake." Sehun nods and makes his way to elevator, pressing the down button when he reaches it.

Sehun crosses the street and enters the building identical to his. He stops to look around the lobby, wondering where he should drop the package off, when a tall man carrying a stack of paperwork bumps into him. Their collision causes the tall man to drop the paperwork onto the floor, and Sehun immediately bends down to pick up the papers, muttering his apologies. To his surprise, the other man apologises as well, his voice rumbling like thunder.

"No, it's my fault. I was in your way," Sehun insists. He takes a look at the tall man when they finish collecting the papers.

As the tall man organises his papers, Sehun blurts out a "Do I know you from somewhere?"

The man tenses at the question.

"Yeah, you might have seen me get confetti in my eyes during the parade earlier this month," the tall man chuckles.

Sehun stifles a laugh at the memory. "Oh! You're that guy!"

"Yeah, I'm that guy," the tall man laughs a bit awkwardly.

The two stay silent. Sehun uses this opportunity to get a better look at the Confetti Guy. He has cute ears that stick out, but his face is good looking, handsome even. He has full pink lips, one of which is caught between white teeth. When Confetti Guy turns his head, Sehun gets the chance to admire the slope of his nose.

"You look a little lost," Confetti Guy comments. Sehun hopes his staring isn’t too obvious.

"Oh, I am. I don't know what to do with this package. It was meant for this building, but the postman sent it to mine."

"You can just give it to me and I'll give it to the right people," the tall man says as he extends his hand to take the package from Sehun.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Sehun repeats as he places the package on top of the paperwork in Confetti Guy’s hands.

"It's nothing really." Confetti Guy turns away to leave after he bows. Sehun's heart sinks at the thought of parting from Confetti Guy without even getting his name.

"Oh, hey, Confetti Guy!" he calls.

The other man turns around and raises his brows at Sehun.

"I mean, er... I don't know your name."

"Oh, er, I'm Chanyeol," Confetti Guy says.

Sehun gives Chanyeol a smile. "I'm Sehun. I just wanted to thank you properly, Chanyeol-sshi" Sehun explains, as he reaches out for a handshake. Sehun earns a warm smile from Chanyeol that's even warmer than the touch of his hand.

"It was nice meeting you, Sehun-sshi."

A thrill runs through Sehun.

"I guess I should give this to the right people then," Chanyeol mumbles before giving Sehun a wave goodbye. Sehun waves back and turns around to leave, feeling as light as he did when he first heard the paper plane song.

☁

As soon as Sehun exits the building, Chanyeol breaks into a run for the elevator. He hits the up button several times when the doors don't open as fast as he wants them to. As soon as they part wide enough, Chanyeol rushes in, pushing the sixth floor button again and again as if it would make the elevator go up faster. He exits in the same way, running as fast as he can to his friends.

"Park, why the hell were you running?" Baekhyun questions Chanyeol when he arrives.

“Your hair looks like it just went through a twister,” Jongdae adds.

"We can stop calling him Runway Model now," Chanyeol pants.

"What?" his two friends chorus.

"His name is Sehun."

"How on earth did you find out?" Jongdae demands.

"I bumped into him in the lobby!"

"DID YOU TELL HIM THAT THE PAPER PLANES ARE FROM YOU?" Baekhyun yells, much to the whole office's annoyance. Jongdae shushes Baekhyun, and so do their colleagues from the neighbouring cubicles. Chanyeol thinks he needs to teach Baekhyun how to _pianissimo_ sometimes.

"No."

"What are you waiting for, Park?"

Chanyeol shrugs, "The right time, I  suppose."

✈

The cycle of sending paper planes with 8 bars of music continues until Sehun only needs one more paper plane to complete the song. Baekhyun scoffs at Chanyeol every time the latter successfully sends a paper plane because as soon as the plane reaches Sehun's cubicle, Chanyeol closes his window and ducks under his table. Although seeing Chanyeol trying to squeeze his tall self under the table is hilarious, Baekhyun decides to do something about it.

"Hey, Park," Baekhyun hollers.

"What is it, Byun?"

"Take a look at this," Baekhyun says as he hands Chanyeol a pair of binoculars.

Chanyeol stares at the binoculars in his hands, face contorted in confusion.

"Byun?"

The short man hums as he takes the binoculars from Chanyeol, and demonstrates how to use them before handing the binoculars back.

"I know how to use binoculars, Byun! I just wanted to know why you had them!"

"I just wanted to know what he'd do after he got the plane with the music sheet," Baekhyun explains with a shrug, earning himself another confused face from Chanyeol. ("Why didn't I think of that?!" Chanyeol hears Jongdae whine from his cubicle).

"Just use the binoculars, Park."

Chanyeol looks through the binoculars to the fifth floor of the building across the main street. The first thing he sees is Sehun pressing the keys of a portable keyboard.

"What do you think he's playing?" Baekhyun giggles. Jongdae appears next to Chanyeol and snatches the binoculars away.

"I think now is the right time for you to tell him, yes?" Jongdae suggests to Chanyeol who just stands there quite dumbfounded.

"How do we know for sure that he's playing my song, though?" Chanyeol gets a smack on the arm from Jongdae and a frustrated groan from Baekhyun.

"I just want to be sure about this."

☁

Chanyeol has to wait in line for his coffee the next day, because the person at the cashier is holding up the line by ordering a lot of coffee. The said man turns around after paying and bows in apology to everyone behind him. Chanyeol slips out of the line when he recognises the man as Sehun.

"You look like you need help with all that coffee."

"Confetti Guy—  oh, I mean Chanyeol-sshi," Sehun says as he struggles to balance the coffee cups and pastries in his arms.

A pastry bag slips out of his grasp but Chanyeol manages to catch it before it can touch the ground. Sehun gives the other man a grateful smile when Chanyeol takes half of the paper bags.

Sehun mumbles something about a stupid Jongin and coffee runs.

"Did you say something?" Chanyeol asks. Sehun shakes his head like a puppy and Chanyeol almost whimpers at how cute it is, but he manages to hold it in.

"So," Chanyeol pipes up, gaining Sehun's attention, "Why are you getting all this coffee? Isn't that the intern's job?"

Sehun laughs and Chanyeol does hear Tchaikovsky's famous overture in the background.

"I am an intern." Sehun chuckles. "It's supposed to be my friend's turn today, but he called in sick, so they asked me to do it. "

Chanyeol only hums in response.

The two walk in silence and Chanyeol stares at the pavement. This time it looks less grey than it usually does. Even the darker asphalt road appears to glimmer.

"So," Chanyeol begins, "Are interns busy with a lot of work just like regular employees? We don't have any interns in my office, so I'm not sure what they do apart from getting coffee and all that.”

“Not really. At least not in my department.”

“Which department is that?”

“IT. It’s mostly a thinking job, so we have a lot of free time.”

“What do you do in that free time?”

“Nothing much. I learn from my seniors about coding and stuff. But I mostly just take in the work atmosphere.”

“That’s cool.” Chanyeol thought back to his early days in the office, having to learn the ropes of a job that seemed straightforward but would turn out to give him more grief than he ever imagined it could. Maybe, Chanyeol thinks, if he had studied something more useful, he could have gotten prepared for office life, like Sehun was doing.

"Oh! I've been learning a little music these past few days and it's been really cool."

Chanyeol perks up at this. "Have you been playing stuff?"

“Yeah! You wouldn’t believe how I got my hands on this pretty little composition.”

Chanyeol stifles an awkward laugh and asks Sehun how he got the composition.

“It just flies in the form of paper planes through my window every day. I don’t even know where they come from!”

As he speaks, Sehun makes gestures that almost send a coffee cup flying, and Chanyeol laughs.

"I've been trying to play it,” Sehun continues, “But I’m terrible at it. I keep getting the fingering wrong." He sighs. "It's a shame, though, because the composition is beautiful.”

Chanyeol’s heart starts being a bad drummer again and skips a beat.

“At least, it's beautiful when one of my seniors plays it.” Sehun gets a bit misty-eyed. "He says I just need to improve my skills, but I’m not sure if that’s all I need.”

"A little more practice might help you," Chanyeol offers and Sehun smiles at the encouragement.

"Hey, do you have any idea who might be sending these planes to me? I know you've seen them."

Chanyeol stiffens at the question and debates whether he should tell Sehun. His internal battle is cut short when Sehun checks his watch and says, "Shit, I'm late. I should really get going." Sehun collects the paper bags from Chanyeol and thanks him before speed-walking the rest of the way to his building.

Chanyeol realises that he didn't even get his cup of coffee today, but the excitement he feels is already enough to keep him awake for the rest of the day. He knows that it's finally time to tell Sehun how he feels about him.

✈

When Chanyeol reaches his own office, he starts to scribble down the last few bars of the song. He folds the paper into a plane carefully, making sure that all the corners are smooth and defined. Chanyeol inspects the plane one last time, pressing the folds so they stay in shape. Wiping his sweaty hands on his pants, Chanyeol exhales and takes his place at the window. Sehun's windows are open as usual but he's not there yet. Good, Chanyeol thinks to himself, I can still back out if this is a bad idea. He takes a deep breath and sends the last part of the song to Sehun.

The plane reaches Sehun's cubicle safely, and Chanyeol decides that he'll send another paper plane with his confession at the end of the day. He shuts the window and takes a seat to start on the paperwork he's been ignoring for weeks in favour of composing a song for Sehun.

At the end of the day, Chanyeol takes a peek at Sehun's window and finds it closed. Chanyeol sighs as he places the last paper plane on his table, and bids goodbye to Baekhyun and Jongdae.

☁

When Chanyeol returns to work the next morning, the paper plane is still on his desk, waiting to be sent to Sehun. Sehun's window is still closed. Maybe he hasn't clocked in yet. Chanyeol shrugs it off and starts working.

Throughout the day, he checks up on Sehun, and his heart gets heavier with each successive sighting of the closed window. Sehun's absence leaves a bad feeling in Chanyeol's gut.

Baekhyun seems to sense Chanyeol's unease and asks him what's wrong.

"Sehun's not here today."

“Maybe he’s sick or something. Don’t worry too much about it. He’ll come back.” Baekhyun pats Chanyeol on the shoulder. 

✈

Several days pass as the last paper plane sits on Chanyeol’s desk, collecting dust as it waits for Sehun’s return. The trio begin to worry even more when Baekhyun checks Sehun’s cubicle using his binoculars and finds it clear of Sehun’s things.

"I should’ve just told him." Chanyeol’s hands ball into fists and one of them connects with the wall, missing the window sill by inches. Jongdae pulls Chanyeol away and holds him in a comforting embrace.

☁

Three months later, Park Chanyeol finds himself surrounded by new colours. Blue, red, yellow and all the colours in between greet Chanyeol each day. After the end of Sehun's internship, Chanyeol quit his job to reunite with his passion: music. Chanyeol works in a music shop now, selling musical instruments to a variety of people. Chanyeol also shares his passion by teaching music to anyone who wants to learn.

And today, the person who wants to learn has a familiar mop of black hair.

Chanyeol greets his new student with a smile, trying not to let his excitement (and all of his teeth) show.

"It's you!" is what Chanyeol gets in return.

"It's me." Chanyeol lets out a nervous chuckle as he ushers Sehun into the small music chambers that holds one upright piano. Chanyeol feels a buzz of excitement course through his veins as he watches Sehun take a seat on the piano bench.

"I never thought we would see each other again after my internship ended, Chanyeol-sshi."

"Call me hyung.” Chanyeol takes a seat on a smaller stool and adjusts it so he’s right beside Sehun. At this distance, Chanyeol can appreciate the curl of Sehun’s eyelashes. “The universe is full of surprises. I mean, look at what’s happened. We meet again." 

Sehun laughs in response and Chanyeol hears Tchaikovsky again in the background. Oh, he missed this.

"So what brings you here, Sehun?" Chanyeol asks.

"Remember the paper planes I told you about, Chanyeol-ss— I mean, hyung? The one with the music sheets on them?"

Chanyeol nods.

"I still can't play them like my office hyung did, even after six months. So I decided that it's time for me to take lessons," Sehun explains.

"I see. Did you bring the sheet music?"

"I think so." Sehun rummages his bag for a few seconds and frowns. "I thought I’d brought it with me."

"Do you remember the song?"

Sehun nods.

"Can you try playing it for me?" Chanyeol requests.

Sehun takes a deep breath and begins playing. His fingers move with little grace. Maybe Chanyeol should not have written such a tricky song but he gives Sehun an A+ for effort. Sehun plays halfway through the song before he stops.

"I don't remember it very well," Sehun explains.

"Maybe I can help jog your memory," Chanyeol says as he takes a seat next to Sehun.

Chanyeol cracks his knuckles and begins to play the song he had first heard in his mind all those months ago.  He caresses the black and white keys, finally understanding why his instructors yelled at him about playing with “emotion, true emotion”. Years of virtuosity exercises allow him to surrender, to play _affettuoso_ , and hope that Sehun understands the message Chanyeol tries to send him with every key that he presses. Sehun just sits there, spellbound as Chanyeol adds tremolos here and presses the pedals there. When Chanyeol reaches the end, he lifts his fingers from the keys the way he was taught to, like a sorcerer who has just finished casting his spell. The last note seems to shimmer in the air.

"How… how do you know the song?" Sehun asks after he picks up his jaw from the floor.

Chanyeol croaks out a laugh. "Oh, I composed it."

"It was _you_?" Sehun gasps.

Chanyeol lets out a nervous laugh as he nods. What happens next surprises Chanyeol because he gets

hit by Sehun several times.

"YOU WERE THE PERSON WHO SENT THE PAPER PLANES AND YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO TELL ME?!"

"I was gonna tell you but then you disappeared!" Chanyeol yells back as he tries to shield himself from Sehun’s flurry of palms.

“It’s not my fault my internship was over!”  Sehun stops his attacks and pouts. He looks extra cute, but Chanyeol’s a bit too upset to let it slide.

“How was I supposed to know that your internship was over?”

Sehun shrugs.

“Sorry I was too much of a coward to tell you,” Chanyeol mumbles.

“See, it’s completely your fault.”

“Can I make it up to you by teaching you music?” Chanyeol tempts Sehun.

“That’s not enough.”

Chanyeol's stomach drops. “What else do you want?”

A smile spreads across Sehun’s face.

“I want a kiss,” Sehun says, tapping a finger on his lips.

Chanyeol freezes at the request but complies anyway. He closes his eyes and leans in slowly, waiting for Sehun’s lips to meet his. Chanyeol’s lips touch Sehun’s palm instead.

“Whoa there, cowboy. I was just kidding about the kiss. We don’t even know each other that well!

Chanyeol feels his cheeks burn as he mumbles an apology to Sehun.

Silence joins the conversation as Chanyeol thinks of what to say next. He twiddles his thumbs as Sehun randomly starts pressing the keys of the piano, creating a mess of clashing notes.

“You know, we charge by the hour here, so maybe we should end the lesson here and go somewhere you don’t need to pay if you wanna stay?” Chanyeol suggests.

Sehun nods and packs up his things while Chanyeol tells his boss that he’s taking a long break.

✈

The pair walk in silence as Chanyeol leads the way across a few streets to a little café tucked between a bookstore and a flower shop. The smell of hot chocolate welcomes them into the shop. They choose a table near the stage with a keyboard and a mic-stand. Chanyeol asks one of the waitresses about the live band set to arrive.

“Oh, live music starts at 8 PM,” the waitress tells Chanyeol. Chanyeol orders two cups of hot chocolate and thanks the waitress.

“So, why did you send me those paper planes?” is the first thing Sehun says after the waitress leaves.

Chanyeol twiddles his thumbs as he thinks of what to say. Sehun raises his eyebrows when Chanyeol takes too long to respond.

“I sent the paper planes for the same reason I tried to kiss you,” Chanyeol answers.

“I don’t remember asking you to send me paper planes.”

If Chanyeol wasn’t so nervous, he would’ve laughed at that, so he only clears his throat and says, “No you did not ask for paper planes.”

“So why did you give me things I didn’t ask for?”

Chanyeol opens his mouth and tries to speak. But he only produces a string of incoherent syllables.

“I’d prefer it if you used a language I could understand," Sehun reproves, smiling despite his words.

Chanyeol tries to calm himself by inhaling and exhaling.

“I sent you the paper plane b-because I uh... um,” Chanyeol stalls.

“It’s cool, I have all day. I can wait.” Sehun crosses his arms before leaning back in his chair.

Chanyeol groans as he starts thumping his head on the table, only stopping when the waitress returns with their hot chocolate.

Sehun sips the hot chocolate with an amused smile.

“Chanyeollie-hyung, you can’t keep doing this. I lived 6 months not knowing who sent me those paper planes, I thought I’d never find who sent me those and here I am, in front of the person who can answer all my questions. But instead of telling me, he chooses to hit his head on the table, making everyone in this café look in our direction.”

Chanyeol stares at his chocolate to avoid Sehun's gaze.

“IsentyoupaperplanescauseIlikeyou,” Chanyeol coughs out.

“Because you what?”

“Because... I like you." Chanyeol’s next words tumble from his mouth, like the lyrics to a pop song that he doesn’t like, but still sings anyway."Because every time I look at you, my brain goes all stupid and my heart skips a beat, sometimes several. Because you were the only hint of colour in my life when everything else was grey. And because you reminded me of the thing I loved the most. And I’m so grateful for that. I don’t know how else to say it but I’ve never felt this way before.” Chanyeol’s cheeks burn and so he hides his head in his arms.

After what feels like an eternity, Sehun replies. “You should get your heart checked about the part where it skips several beats sometimes.”

Chanyeol raises his head and just stares at Sehun.

“I gave you an embarrassingly long confession and that’s all that you have to say?”

“I kinda already figured it out when you tried to kiss me earlier. I just wanted you to admit it,” Sehun says with a mischievous smile decorating his lips.

“I bare my heart to you and this is what I get?”

"What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know! A simple 'I like you, too' would have been nice. Hell, even a 'Sorry, but I can't return your feelings' would have been fine, too.”

“Then, sorry, but this is what you get.”

Chanyeol takes his first sip of his not-so-hot-anymore chocolate. “Can I know why you asked for a kiss earlier?”

Sehun shrugs. “Because I wanted to see if you’d do it.”

Chanyeol wants to disappear from the face of the Earth from the amount of embarrassment he’s feeling right now. Sehun chuckles once more, as if he could read Chanyeol’s thoughts. 

“Although I think I really do want that kiss now.”

“Are you serious? Because there's no way I am going to lean in right now and—” Chanyeol gets cut off by Sehun’s lips pressing against his. Chanyeol hears Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True” as soon as their lips touch, so he wonders when the live music arrived. The last time he checked his watch, it was only 5 PM.

Chanyeol hears a familiar voice yelling "GET A ROOM, YOU TWO!" and another voice saying telling the first one that "We're supposed to be undercover, you idiot!". Chanyeol rolls his eyes (he really should teach Baekhyun to _pianissimo_ ) as Sehun pulls away after a few moments and Chanyeol sees a hint of pink on Sehun’s cheek.

Chanyeol doesn’t miss the “Should’ve just let you kiss me earlier,” that Sehun mumbles.

“What was that?” Chanyeol asks, pretending he didn’t hear. The colour of Sehun’s cheeks deepen.

“N-nothing,” Sehun stutters, and Chanyeol laughs.

☁

When they finally leave, Sehun offers to pay for all the hot chocolate.

“Sehun, please, I get paid. Unlike you,” Chanyeol argues as he takes out his wallet.

“But you gave me a free piano lesson!” Sehun counters.

“You didn’t even learn anything!”

“I did! I learnt the identity of the person who sent me the paper planes!”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Hyung, just let me pay, will you?”

“If you pay, then I won’t sing you the song. I wrote lyrics to it, you know,” and with that, Chanyeol manages to convince Sehun to put his wallet back in his pockets and let Chanyeol pay.


End file.
